{"id":875326,"date":"2026-09-14T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875326"},"modified":"2026-09-14T15:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:18:12","slug":"retailer-backed-by-springbok-captain-siya-kolisi-launches-first-international-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/875326\/retailer-backed-by-springbok-captain-siya-kolisi-launches-first-international-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Retailer backed by Springbok captain Siya Kolisi launches first international store"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luxury lifestyle brand Freedom of Movement (FOM) has launched its first international store in Bath, England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand is well known for its luxury footwear, bags, and accessories, as well as its strong focus on leather products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand has a strong working relationship with Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, who is a minority investor in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we started FOM in South Africa, I could never have imagined that one day we would be opening a store on the other side of the world,\u201d said FOM CEO and co-founder Roal Boezaart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuilding a globally recognised South African brand has always been the dream, but today that dream suddenly feels a little more real,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his announcement of the international launch, Boezaart explained that the journey of bringing the brand to international markets had been difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last few months have come with plenty of setbacks, a genuinely tough store build, countless lessons, and more than a few hurdles navigating the regulations that come with opening in a historic city like Bath,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou believe in your brand, and you believe in your product, but taking it to a completely new country is different. You simply don\u2019t know how people are going to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boezaart said that despite uncertainty about how the UK market would react to the South African brand, the launch received a very positive response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes me incredibly proud of what we\u2019ve built back home and excited about what South African brands are capable of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the launch of the first FOM store in the UK received a positive response, Boezaart said the group still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI truly believe there is no reason why a South African brand can\u2019t stand alongside international brands on the world stage,\u201d said Boezaart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the new international store as a small first step for the brand but also a meaningful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boezaart expressed gratitude to everyone involved in launching the brand internationally and acknowledged the brand\u2019s partners, VEA Capital Partners and Siya Kolisi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, VEA Capital Partners acquired a stake in FOM from Bellair Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellair Road invested in the company in 2019 alongside the founding team, committed to scaling the business and growing an authentic South African brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2019 and 2025, the group had expanded from 6 stores to 29, with the headcount increasing from 30 to 170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revenue and EBITDA also rose dramatically, delivering 46% and 60% CAGR\u2019s, respectively, between 2019 and 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under VEA, the group said it was positioned to scale South African design and manufacturing, both locally and globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boezaart said that partnering with VEA Capital Partners gave FOM the strategic support to unlock the next chapter of its growth, which included international expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a university room to the United Kingdom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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FOM founders and staff at the launch of the Bath store opening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Freedom of Movement was founded in 2013 by brothers Roal Boezaart and L\u00e9an Boezaart, who were passionate about design and entrepreneurship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group started with seed funding from their other brother, Marcel, who also served as chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand name was inspired by the founders’ family\u2019s motto, which was present in their home when they were growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowing up in a house of four very social and sports-enthusiastic boys, our parents had their hands full more often than not,\u201d said the brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo maintain some order, our dad introduced a house rule called \u2018Freedom of Movement\u2019. \u2018Freedom of Movement\u2019 had to be earned through hard work and personal discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers explained that this rule required them to perform well academically, and if they met the required standards, they would achieve \u2018Freedom of Movement.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis principle laid the groundwork for understanding the significance of hard work and discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers said that in 2013, after qualifying as Civil Engineers and Chartered Accountants, they had earned the freedom to pursue their own paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInitially, our vision was to create a proudly South African lifestyle brand anchored in the core principles of quality, longevity, value, and worth,\u201d said the founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founders explained that they saw leather as the raw material that embodied all four of these principles, which led to it being the starting point for the brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand was launched in a small room at the University of Stellenbosch, with one leather craftsman, Benjamin, and an old, traditional leather-stitching machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Freedom of Movement <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Freedom of Movement (FOM) has launched its first international store in Bath, England.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":875370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2099491111811088723","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2205307020289697","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17871787245636163","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26515,21714],"class_list":["post-875326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-freedom-of-movement","tag-siya-kolisi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875326"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875371,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875326\/revisions\/875371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}